Imperfect Blossom
by peanutbutter126
Summary: Prequel to Blossom In My Eyes. She tried to be perfect for him, but his desire for imperfection ran deeper than she could heal.


I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

This is a prequel to my other story Blossom In My Eyes. It runs through Sakura and Sasuke's fight and hopefully provides a little background on the main story.

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Imperfect Blossom

It offended her that he had his back to her, completely disregarding her presence.

_No one _offended Sakura Haruno. Those that did often ended up taking a detour through the closest wall, or were given a priceless geographical tour of the Earth's core. There were very few people who were spared this treatment. It was just his luck that the person who stood before her was one of them.

She heaved out a slow breath, flushing out the adrenaline of the chase from her system. Just looking at him, very few would be able to deduce that he had been involved in a full-scale assault just minutes ago, or that he had managed to escape without a scratch while keeping his pursuer at a respectable distance.

Well… he wasn't Sasuke Uchiha for nothing.

"I can't let you leave."

"It's not within your power to stop me."

"Aren't you going to fight me, Sasuke?" she asked in a soft voice.

It was painfully familiar how he tilted his head to one side, glancing at her for the briefest of seconds before his attention shifted away from her. Some things never changed. "You're annoying," he answered in a lifelessly dull voice.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment. History repeated itself… painfully. "I know," she murmured, steeling her gaze. "You told me that when we first met. Don't you remember?"

"Where is the dobe?"

Yes, where was Naruto? The last she had heard of him was his plea for her to stay, to wait for him, and even then it had been muffled by the sounds of combat and the spilling of blood. Was he coming? Would she find him by her side?

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but then realised something; he had asked for Naruto, not her. Sasuke considered the blond to be a larger threat to his safety and a worthier trophy for his collection. It was never her. She was too plain, too unadorned. She was a student of the Copy Ninja, the teammate of the last Uchiha and the demon fox's vessel. She was Sakura Haruno, the girl with the humiliating hair colour and the pitifully large forehead.

She was Sakura Haruno, a name.

"Where is Orochimaru?"

"Not here. Naruto?"

"It shouldn't be in your interests to know," she replied, narrowing her eyes. "He is not here; I am."

His chuckle was cold and hard. It froze the air and hovered over her.

"Sasuke… will it matter… if I ask you to come back with me? Will it affect you at all?"

"No."

It wasn't like she had fantasized – of course she hadn't. _Then why does it hurt?_ It was as if the Shinigami had grasped her heart and yanked. It shouldn't hurt as much… especially since half her heart had already been lost the day the Uchiha left.

She tugged at her gloves and lowered into a crouch. "Then it won't matter, will it, Sasuke, if you and I do battle here, now? Because we were never friends, were we? It shouldn't hurt us." It shouldn't… but it did.

"Nothing you do can hurt me."

"But we were teammates, weren't we? We were on the same team." In the end, it still had to come down to violence. Blood. "Kakashi-sensei taught us… _never to turn your back on your opponent_!" She dashed forward, the first of her steps cracking the earth in a fissure that preceded her as she ran. "Face me as you would Naruto!"

"I can't," were his words before he sidestepped and brought up an arm to deflect Sakura's assault as she pivoted at her waist to swing her fist at the side of his head. His grip locked on her wrist. Nonchalantly, as if he were dusting off dirt from the bottom of his sandal, he swept her feet off the ground and snapped back, pulling her toward him and flinging her easily over his head.

She struck out with a chakra-loaded palm as she streaked past him. It slammed down on his chest and his knees buckled as if suddenly boneless, and he plummeted to the ground, breaking up great chunks of earth with the impact. Sakura's other hand lightly touched the ground as she descended, allowing her to flip upright in recovery.

"Not bad, _Sakura_." She had forgotten exactly how much she _hated_ the mocking tone in his drawl. "Considering that you were once a doll."

"Quit toying with me," she announced, turning to face him. He still had her back to her. "I've grown; I'm stronger than you remember me to be."

"No matter how much stronger you get, you will never be able to keep up with me. If you leave now I can pretend this never happened," he stated. "Return to your own life and leave me to mine."

She wasn't aware that she had been clenching her fist _that _hard until she felt her nails beginning to pierce her glove. "You are Konoha's, not Orochimaru's puppet! Don't you realise that he's just using you, Sasuke? He just wants your bo-"

"You don't understand," he cut in coldly. "You never will until you go through what I did. For you, that day will never come. That is why you will be weak. Forever." He paused, and then started to walk away. "Go home, Sakura."

How many times had he said that to her? During their years at the academy when she had tried to follow him to his home; after training when he and Naruto stayed back to spar and she would wait for them to finish and fall asleep to wake to him walking away; the last time she had tried to stop him. Sakura didn't like repetition. "On the battlefield, I'm not the girl you thought I was. I'm on a mission, and I will give my life to complete it." Lying was too easy.

Sasuke paused, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Prove it," he murmured. Then he was gone, blotted out by the fireballs that flew her way in a rush of heat and ferocious intent.

She weaved through them and approached the Uchiha, her right hand glowing a pale blue. When Tsunade had taught her the chakra scalpel, Sakura had never thought that she would have to test-trial it on a teammate, her former crush. Perhaps it was fate; he certainly hadn't gone through surgical procedures to tear apart her heart that day.

The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched, and then he was ducking below her attack and once again sweeping her off her feet. Sakura rolled backward with the impact, flinging out a brace of shuriken as she jumped to her feet. His kunai deflected them and flew straight at her. She easily swatted it out of the way, but when she looked back, Sasuke was gone.

"Never turn your back on your opponent," he hissed from behind her. Sakura's eyes widened.

She jerked her elbow back, forcing him to hastily stumble away. Then her upper body leaned forward and her left leg was slicing through the air, barely missing Sasuke's nose as he quickly jerked back. From the corner of her eye, Sakura noticed his smirk. Her eyes narrowed, and she twisted her body, bringing down her other leg. A sizeable crater marked the space that the Uchiha had previously occupied.

"Fine," he grunted, turning to face her for the first time. "For the first and last time, I will humour you." His obsidian eyes steadily faded into a crimson shade. "It didn't have to come to this… enjoy it while you can, Sakura." A flash of silver indicated that he had drawn his blade, and the fresh gash that opened in her right shoulder only confirmed it.

Sakura spun away, clutching the new wound, already healing it. As she pivoted, she lashed out with her leg, shattering the nearest tree and bombarding Sasuke with the splinters as he approached. Arcs of current sparked from the Uchiha's body, shielding him from the shards. Then he was upon her.

His sword flicked out in a side stroke, lashing out at her side. It sliced her shirt and drew a thin line of blood, but nothing more. Sakura found herself smiling as she quickly healed the small wound.

"You always had good chakra control," Sasuke said as he looked at the thin layer of chakra that had defended her. "But there are other ways to win a battle."

Sakura didn't know what he was talking about until she felt a sharp pain in her wrist. She looked down to see a small snake clamped firmly on her arm, extending from Sasuke's sleeve. Small droplets of blood oozed down her hand, dripping to the ground.

"That was fast," she noted, and then wrenched the reptile out of Sasuke's grip, tightening her fist on its body until it was crushed. She ignored the portion of flesh it had torn from her arm.

"It's poisonous," he informed her.

"I know." She concentrated on isolating the point of infection, rapidly clearing away the venom. But it was a fast-reacting agent some of it escaped from her first purge. Scowling, she stiffened as it flowed through her veins, numbing her body.

"Naruto told me not to go after you," she said, looking at her opponent. "He was afraid… that this would happen. I told him I would be fine." She chuckled. "To think that I… I actually thought you wouldn't be able to hurt me. I thought you still had it in you to spare a teammate."

His face remained an emotionless mask, but Sakura had already begun to understand where the truths ended and the façades begun. Sooner or later, she would rip that mask off his face. "Are you telling me that I am weak?" he said coolly. He sheathed his sword. At her raised eyebrows, he answered, "I don't need this to defeat you."

_No; I need more time!_ But then, did her life really matter that much? Had it ever held any significance at all? "We kept your apartment clean," she said softly. "We go up and clean it every week. Naruto keeps telling me that you'll come back." Another tendril of venom tingled down her thigh, and she sent concentrations of chakra after it. "I believe him."

"You shouldn't."

"No?"

"No."

Then he was once again spitting fireballs at her. Sakura cursed and forced her body to move. Her movements were sluggish and not nearly as agile as she would like. Before she could load chakra in her fist, he was behind her, one arm draped across her neck and shoulders as if granting her the last and only embrace he would ever give her.

"You shouldn't have followed," he murmured down her neck.

"I tried to be perfect for you," she whispered. "I thought that if I tried hard enough, you would see that I was good enough for you. But no matter how much I refined myself, it wasn't enough for you, was it, Sasuke?"

The birds started to chirp. "Close your eyes, Sakura."

She did. Naruto wasn't coming after all. She wouldn't even be able to say goodbye to him. "Is this what you want, Sasuke? To betray your village, your friends, and become a missing-nin? To kill me and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei?" There was something wet in her eyes. "Sasuke… it's time to wake up; stop living in a nightmare."

The first flock was joined by dozens more, and their shrill cries filled the clearing. "Sakura, do you remember my last words to you before I left?"

"Yes."

"Then I won't say it again. At least you know."

"I do."

A sharp crack. The soil soaked crimson. A distant howl of rage and grief.

The birds stopped singing.

"_Sakura… thank you…"_


End file.
